Department of Biological Sciences Newsletter // Fall 2023

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES FALL 2023 NEWSLETTER

A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR CONTACT Department of Biological Sciences

Main Office -1325 Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) (205) 348-1807 bscacademics@ua.edu Box 870344 The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL 3548-0344

Arboretum

4801 Arboretum Way Tuscaloosa, AL 35404 (205) 553-3278 arbor@ua.edu

Tanglewood Biological Station 496 Tanglewood Road Akron, AL 35441 (205) 348-3227 jalampley@ua.edu

Department of Biological Sciences

IN THIS ISSUE 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 15

Letter From The Chair Student Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Student Participates in Euroscholars Research Program Making Legends in the Caldwell Lab Faculty Research Spotlight: Dr. Jon Benstead Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Jay Hodgson UA Increases Presence at Dauphin Island Sea Lab Beyond Science: Our Faculty’s Unique Hobbies Departmental Funding Celebrating Scholarship

Please allow me to introduce myself and briefly explain why I am currently serving as the interim department chair.

In June of this year, Dr. Behzad Mortazavi, the previous chair, left the University of Alabama to become the Dean of the College of Arts and Science at Syracuse University. This unexpected vacancy led Dean Messina to ask me to serve as the interim department chair for the 2023-24 academic year while a national search is conducted for a new faculty member to serve as the department chair.

As the Director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History here at the University of Alabama, I have had a connection to the department for years as an adjunct faculty member and have previously worked with several faculty in the department on collaborations with the museum.

Furthermore, I am a Ph.D. level vertebrate biologist and before joining UA in 2015, I was a senior research associate and instructor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University. Given my background and academic experience, the Dean and I agreed that I could be a good fit to serve as the interim department chair to help support the department and the college during this transitional period.

While I already knew several faculty members in the department, I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and working with all the other faculty and staff I have not previously known. The department is one of the largest in the College of Arts and Science and continues to grow each year. Since I started in July, the department has added several new staff as well as our newest faculty member, Dr. Jenna Poole. Dr. Poole comes to us from Vanderbilt University, where she has recently earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. Alongside teaching several of our introductory biology courses, Dr. Poole will be assisting in the updating of these courses’ curricula.

External research support continues to be a priority for our department and the university, and I am happy to report that over the past year, our faculty and staff were successfully awarded over $5.6M in funding to support their research and training opportunities for postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates. Here are a few highlights of funded projects. Dr. Melanie Higgins was awarded a $1.8M NIH MIRA award to investigate biosynthetic enzymes to enhance natural product discovery. Dr. Philip Harris and Worth Pugh, Coordinator of Zoological Collections, were awarded $78,323 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to rehouse and digitize its department’s collection of ~20,000 crayfish specimens. Drs. Christie Staudhammer, Carla Atkinson, Arial Shogren, Greg Starr, and Kaleb

Heinrich were awarded a $3M NSF-RaMP grant to train postbaccalaureates in field ecology, targeting participants who have been traditionally under-represented in ecology and natural resources. Drs. Benstead, Alex Huryn, and Arial Shogren received a $990K NSF award to study thermal compensation at multiple levels of organization that may promote stream ecosystem stability in response to drought. Last but not least, Dr. Brandon Kim was awarded a $447K NIH R15 grant to study impairment of the cerebral vasculature during bacterial meningitis.

This fall, our department welcomed 43 new graduate students, bringing our total number of graduate students to 102. We are also proud to support almost 1,600 undergraduate majors. Currently, our department ranks 8th among UA majors and programs with the highest number of international students. Finally, I am also pleased to share that in the past year, the department awarded 255 bachelor’s degrees, 26 master’s degrees, and 9 doctoral degrees to our students.

As I conclude my letter, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has generously supported our scholarship funds to assist our deserving students. If you wish to contribute to these funds, please contact me via email at jpfriel@ua.edu or through phone at 205-348-9810.

We are always happy to connect with prospective students, current students, and alumni. Whether you are interested in pursuing undergraduate or graduate studies or simply curious about our department, please visit our website, send me an email, or give me a call. I am always eager to share the latest developments in our department and would be delighted to hear from you. ■

DR. JOHN P. FRIEL

Interim Department Chair Department of Biological Sciences

3

UA STUDENT AWARDED NSF GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP A graduate student in The University of Alabama Department of Biological Sciences has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. David R. Yannick, from Orlando, Florida, is studying the biogeochemistry of wetlands in his graduate program at UA. He is one of 2,500 NSF Graduate Research Fellows selected for 2023. Yannick’s award is for $147,000 over three years, which includes a stipend and education support cost to UA. “It enables me to continue pursuing my research interests in biogeochemistry and wetland ecosystems,” Yannick said. “I am also grateful for the support in my graduate training thus far from my co-advisors, Drs. Gregory Starr and Christina Staudhammer, and the Department of Biological Sciences.”

Since 1952, NSF has provided fellowships to individuals early in their careers based on their demonstrated potential for significant achievements in science and engineering.

The ranks of NSF Fellows include individuals who have made breakthroughs in science and engineering research and become leaders in their fields. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program is part of NSF’s overall strategy to develop a globally engaged work force necessary to ensure the nation’s leadership in advancing science and engineering research and innovation.

By underwriting the training of graduate students that demonstrated potential to be highachieving scientists and engineers, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program represents longrange investments for the future of society, according to the NSF. Yannick graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2021 with a B.S. in environmental studies. He completed independent undergraduate research with Dr. Lisa Chambers in her aquatic biogeochemistry lab, where he also served as lab manager before arriving at UA. Yannick will graduate in fall 2023 with his master’s degree. He will continue working on his Ph.D. at UA while being mentored by Starr, an Alabama Water Institute Distinguished Faculty Fellow.

Yannick is also a recent recipient of the Department of Biological Sciences Ecology and Evolution Research award. He also won second place for showcasing his research at the 2023 AWI Symposium poster contest.

Yannick’s research at UA involves studying the carbon dynamics of coastal wetlands in the Florida Everglades. Altered hydrology has increased susceptibility to saltwater flooding and natural disturbances like hurricanes. This can lead to several issues such as shifts in soil respiration, peat collapse, plant mortality and the establishment of salt-tolerant vegetation such as mangroves.

These events can lead to a transitional state where there is a change in dominant vegetation and eventually a different ecosystem. Yannick and his fellow researchers seek to understand how carbon is being stored or released from these wetlands during this transitional phase as they have observed a departure from herbaceous marsh and the beginnings of a mangrove forest. They utilize an eddycovariance flux tower that continuously measures carbone dioxide and methane emissions and other important biological and meteorological parameters. This is important as wetlands provide invaluable services from providing crucial habitats to storing carbon.

“As a researcher, I am excited to explore how the lessons learned from the Everglades can be applied to coastal wetlands under pressure, also in Alabama and beyond,” he said. ■

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE PARTICIPATES IN EUROSCHOLARS RESEARCH PROGRAM IN BELGIUM At the beginning of the spring 2023 semester, microbiology major and recent recipient of the departmental Grantland and Louise Rice Scholarship, Zoe Davidson of Tampa, Fl., traveled to Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven in Leuven, Belgium as part of the EuroScholars Program. This exceptional opportunity gives undergraduate students the chance to conduct research overseas while becoming familiar with the European academic culture.

Although it took some adjustment to get used to student life in Belgium, Davidson has enjoyed exploring the country and has been immersing herself in the city life of Leuven. “I have met so many peers from all over Europe and other parts of the world. This collaboration is so important, especially in a research setting, as labs are usually made up of many international students.”

Davidson has been working on two projects in the laboratory of Dr. Patrick Van Dijck at KU Leuven – the first being investigating the genetic basis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae inhibition on Candida albicans growth.

“With this, we knocked out certain regions on a chromosome to create superior and inferior strains, then compared these strains in growth assays measured by fluorescence.” The second project Davidson has been working on has consisted of the creation of strains of S. cerevisiae that can yield abundant amounts of muconic acid, a fermentation product with useful industrial applications.

Throughout her education and research, Davidson has gained many technical skills that allowed her to work independently, which in turn has enhanced her experience in Leuven. “This program allows the unique experience of full-time, independent research as an undergrad, showing me what it would be like to be a graduate student.” Davidson’s research in Belgium has given her the opportunity to gain experience in experimental design and techniques used in yeast transformations including heat shock, electroporation, and CRISPR/Cas9.

In addition to her research, Davidson’s favorite experience with the program has been a mid-stay trip in the Netherlands with other students participating in the program and attending other European schools. This trip to the Netherlands not only included tours of the city, University, and museums, but Davidson and the other students in attendance had the opportunity to present their research to students and faculty members of Leiden University.

A May 2023 graduate, Davidson returned from Belgium at the end of June, ready to move forward in her collegiate career and take the next step in becoming a graduate student. ■ Scan to access more information on the EuroScholars program as well as Zoe’s research experience and presentation

4

5

MAKING LEGENDS IN THE CALDWELL LAB When the Caldwells’ were approached about doing this article, they could have selected from any number of achievements over their 24 years at The University of Alabama. From distinguished teaching awards and independent NSF CAREER grants to their relationship as a married research team with a love of live music (pictured below at an Eagles concert in Birmingham), Drs. Guy and Kim Caldwell have established a track record of excellence at The University of Alabama –and a preeminent lab affectionately known as “The Worm Shack”. Using the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, the Caldwells and their students have uncovered genes, pathways and potential therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.

But aside from all their achievements, the Caldwells’ wished to highlight the successes of their former students. In science, individuals not only build on the previous research findings of others in their field but also the knowledge, character and recognition of their mentors. The satisfaction professors receive from the achievement of their students can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the job. While the Caldwells are quick to note that their “finest product to science is the people”, in 2023, Caldwell lab students also co-authored the 7th research article from The Worm Shack to appear in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – an accomplishment few scientists achieve once or twice, if ever, in their

careers.

The Caldwell lab has mentored over 35 Ph.D. and M.S. students and over 100 undergraduates.

Ranging from university professors and research scientists to leaders in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical fields, a few of the many noteworthy students and their accomplishments are highlighted below. These include Dr. Adam Knight, who went on to complete a Ph.D. at Cambridge and founded a multimillion-dollar company in Silicon Valley, and Dr. Songsong (David) Cao, who was global director of neuroscience at several major pharmaceutical companies. Other industry leaders include Dr. Hanna Kim and Dr. Arpita Ray, who lead research groups at Novartis and Genentech, respectively.

Several students have also gone on to successful careers in academia including Dr. Bwarenaba Kautu, a Professor at Greenville College. a Global Health Fellow at Harvard University, and Scientific Advisory Group member for the United Nations.

Dr. Pan Chen is now an Associate Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine – and still uses C. elegans to model diseases with his own lab.

As for undergraduates, The Caldwells’ have trained 10 Goldwater Scholars (an 11th is currently nominated); which equates to ~1/6 of UA’s historical total. One key commitment to their undergraduate research philosophy is providing 10-weeks of paid summer research annually to their undergraduate researchers, stating “It is this continuity of effort that leads to success whereby undergraduates can be drivers of research progress.” With students going on to become healthcare professionals, MBAs, M.D./Ph.Ds., Ph.Ds, bioethicists, dentists, veterinarians, genetic counselors, research technicians, pharmacists, and teachers, they will undoubtedly pass the strong mentorship they received in the Caldwell lab on to their patients, employees, and students– representing UA with pride – and a hearty, “Roll nucleoTide”! ■

Name: Adam Knight UA Degree(s): B.S., M.S. Immediate Placement: Ph.D., Cambridge University Current or Recent Positions: Founder of a Silicon Valley biotech company, Neuron23, with a $312M valuation

Name: Arpita Ray UA Degree(s): Ph.D. Immediate Placement: Postdoc, Oregon Health Science Center Current or Recent Positions: Leads research group at Genentech

Name: Hanna Kim UA Degree(s): Ph.D. Immediate Placement: Postdoc, University of Pennsylvania Current or Recent Positions: Leads research group at Novartis

Name: Bwarenaba Kautu UA Degree(s): M.S, Ph.D. Immediate Placement: Postdoc, Baylor College of Medicine Current or Recent Positions: Professor, Greenville College and Visiting Professor, Cambridge University; Global Health Fellow, Harvard Medical School, Scientific Advisory Group for the U.N.

Name: Pen Chen UA Degree(s): Ph.D. Immediate Placement: Postdoc, Vanderbilt University Current or Recent Positions: Associate Professor, Dept. Molecular Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Name: Songsong Cao UA Degree(s): M.S., Ph.D. Immediate Placement: Postdoc, Duke; M.B.A., UNC-Chapel Hill Current or Recent Positions: Former Director, Global Neuroscience at AstraZeneca and Gilead Sciences; founded his own consulting business

Guy and Kim Caldwell, Eagles Hotel California Tour 2022, BJCC Birmingham, Alabama

6

7

FACULTY RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: DR. JON BENSTEAD The Benstead Lab is collaborating with fellow University of Alabama biologists, Alex Huryn and Carla Atkinson, on a multi-year project on the North Slope of Alaska. The team is studying interactions between temperature and seasonal cycles in energy inputs from sunlight and their impact on ecosystem processes and fish and macroinvertebrate communities.

The unique opportunity provided by Alaska’s Brooks Range is a series of spring-streams that emerge at different temperatures, ranging from 2˚ to 12˚ Celsius, and that consequently flow year-round (unlike 99% of streams in the region, which freeze solid in the winter). These spring-streams are oases scattered within the harsh and frozen winter environment, making them essential habitat for organisms that cannot tolerate freezing. Their ecological context also makes them compelling natural laboratories for studying energy flow through food webs. In most temperate regions, air temperature and light are seasonally coupled, meaning that inputs from primary productivity, as well as the metabolic energy demand of consumers, cycle together through the seasons. However, in high-latitude springstreams, these features become decoupled. Water temperatures are constant yearround, while the seasonal oscillation in daylight is extreme, ranging from a few hours of twilight to 24 hours of daylight. Constant water temperatures mean that the metabolic demand of spring-stream consumers does not decline with primary productivity in winter. These factors, in combination with the temperature differences between the spring-streams, provide a powerful natural experiment to evaluate, and tease apart, the effects of temperature and light on productivity and local communities.

The Benstead Lab and other researchers use the nearby Toolik Field Station, operated by the University of Alaska, as their hub during research excursions that may last up to several months for the graduate students leading the efforts, Tori Hebert, Annie Blalock, and Adam Hensley. The team shuttles to field sites via helicopter, where they focus their efforts on the source and headwaters of each spring-stream. Many local organisms rely heavily on the non-frozen habitat supplied by the spring-streams in winter, including stoneflies, caddisflies, Dolly Varden char, river otters, and American dippers. The food webs that tie these organisms together pass through exaggerated cycles of energy limitation in winter, as primary production crashes due to low light. Consumers such as chironomid midge larvae stop growing, whereas char either lose weight through winter or move downstream in search of food and lower temperatures.

The Benstead Lab and colleagues departed the Brooks Range again in May 2023 to continue studying these unique spring-streams. The team hypothesizes that warmer spring-streams will have more severe productivity crashes during winter. The project will continue through Summer of 2024. ■

Top: Alex Huryn and graduate student Tori Hebert collect water samples at Sadlerochit Spring on the North slope of Alaska. Middle: A juvenile Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma), which relies on spring-streams for winter habitat.

Bottom: Alex Huryn collecting benthic invertebrate samples at Echooka Spring on the North Slope of Alaska.

8

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: DR. JAY HODGSON Dr. Jay Hodgson received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from The University of Alabama in 2009 working in the lab of Dr. Amelia Ward on a dissertation titled Diatom-inferred records of paleo-climate and paleo-hydrogeology from lakes in regions of different climate. After completing his work at UA, he joined the faculty at Georgia Southern University where his interests range from paleoecology and foraging to approaches to teaching evolution in the classroom. His passion for teaching and involving undergraduates in research has earned him the rank of full Professor at GSU. We caught up with Dr. Hodgson to ask about his career path and time at the University.

What originally interested you in pursuing a career in biological research and how long have you been in your current position?

My entire immediate family has biologically related careers and my father is also a Professor of Biology. He included me early on during my childhood in his field research, which I enjoyed immensely. However, being the stubborn person I am, I did everything in my power at first to go down my own road to avoid becoming a biologist. I started off in college as a history major and got quite far down that path before I took the course Limnology, which was my favorite course I’ve ever taken. It was at that moment I knew there was nothing I could do to escape my destiny of becoming an aquatic ecologist. I was able to unite my passion for history with biology to pursue research lines of paleoecology and long-term ecological data. I’ve been at Georgia Southern University since 2009 and in my current tenure-track line since 2011.

How would you describe your research focus to a non-scientific audience?

I use long-term ecological data, which may span a few decades to a few thousand years, to understand how ecosystems and foraging behavior change over time. Long-term ecological data often elucidates trends that may be unexpected or otherwise unnoticeable when using short-term data. For example, imagine you are a college football fan and you turned on the television to watch the first game of the season. During the first quarter, suppose your team gave up a fumble and an interception and were rapidly losing 14-0. In response, you quickly turned the television off and concluded your team wasn’t any good. Perhaps the next morning you checked the newspaper, and your team did in fact lose the game, only further confirming your suspicion that your team was hopeless. However, what if over the course of the entire season, the team went 14-1 and won a national championship? What if over a decade they became a dynasty? You would never have been able to determine either of those realities from watching 15 minutes of football. Similarly, some ecological phenomena cannot be accurately determined from spending one summer in the field.

What is the most fulfilling part of your career? And the most challenging?

The most fulfilling part of my career is seeing those “a-ha” moments when students have a breakthrough moment of understanding. This

may either be in the classroom or through mentored research. I can metaphorically see the lightbulb turn on above their heads when they put it all together. The most challenging part has been the inherent difficulties of connecting with students after COVID-19 caused us to radically reinvent our teaching methods and delivery. Through trial and error, and essentially inventing it as we go, I feel like we’ve gotten really close to a good balance and are better able to promote student success in the new landscape. It’s an ongoing process.

What advice would you give others pursuing a career in academia?

Prioritize finding the optimal work-life balance that can be maintained indefinitely. Academia is very rewarding, but it’s also incredibly demanding of your time and energy. A common approach for both graduate students and early career faculty is to invest extremely large sums of time while pursuing their degrees, tenure, and promotion.

I feel like we’re finally in a place where we’re emphasizing the importance of mental health and recognizing the reality of burnout. Set boundaries and make time for yourself, friends, and loved ones. Success isn’t simply the result of working “more.” It’s the product of working “better” over the long haul when you’re refreshed and reinvigorated.

How did your time at UA contribute to your success?

I’m a naturally curious person, but I also have a short attention span in the relative sense of an on-going scholarship program. As such, I consider myself a question-driven researcher instead of a system-driven one. While at UA, I was a trainee in the IGERT Freshwater Studies Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program, which was the perfect program for me because it gave me broad training and experiences. I am very comfortable exploring a variety of research questions in a diversity of systems because of the excellent teaching and mentoring I received.

What hobbies or other activities do you enjoy?

I enjoy nature photography, hiking, fishing, and playing mind puzzles and games such as Wordle and chess. I also like reading nonfiction, especially unsolved mysteries and true crime. I like to think I was ahead of the curve before podcasts and streaming services discovered those genres! ■

9

BEYOND SCIENCE: OUR FACULTY’S UNIQUE HOBBIES UA INCREASES PRESENCE AT DAUPHIN ISLAND SEA LAB In the 1960s, a series of trips down to the Gulf Coast by UA faculty to visit the Seafood Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources became the impetus behind what developed into the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL). One of the few marine stations in the country that form a consortium with other member institutions, DISL has become the center of marine science research and education for the state of Alabama and currently houses 17 faculty members hired

by The University of Alabama, University of South Alabama, Auburn University, and DISL itself. In total, 22 member institutions in the state currently make up the DISL consortium.

As one of the founding member institutions, UA has had continued presence at the sea lab for over 50 years and has played a fundamental role in keeping its doors open in the early years. The first director of DISL was UA geologist Dr. C. Everett Brett, and the first major tenant of the sea lab was the University of Alabama Marine Science Institute (UAMSI), which maintained a separate operating budget. The UAMSI ultimately hired two key figures in the history of DISL, Dr. Tom Hopkins and Dr. Will Schroder. Dr. Hopkins, hired from the University of West Florida, established the first major research program at DISL, while Dr. Schroeder became the DISL diving safety officer and established the scientific dive program. The success of both individuals at acquiring external funding turned out to be a major lifeline for DISL following Hurricane Frederic in 1979, which damaged much of the island and destroyed the causeway, severing the roadway from DISL to the mainland.

Through the years however, UA’s presence and role at DISL has slowly decreased. Since at least 2000, UA has never had more than a one faculty member permanently based at DISL, while other consortium member institutions have steadily increased faculty numbers through the years. This began to change in 2018 when Dr. Behzad Mortazavi, a Professor of Biogeochemistry at UA and Senior Marine Scientist III at DISL at the time, was hired as the Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences (BSC) and moved his research laboratory to Tuscaloosa. After having spent the previous 10 years as the sole UA faculty member at DISL, Dr. Mortazavi negotiated for two UA faculty lines to be based out of Dauphin Island- one to replace himself and a second to expand UA’s presence down at DISL for the first time in decades.

In 2019, BSC hired Dr. Kenny Hoadley as an Assistant Professor of Marine Biology, and two years later, followed up by hiring Dr. Ben Titus in 2021. The establishment of both the Hoadley and Titus labs at DISL have led to a renewed presence of The University of Alabama at the coastal sea lab. Between faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and research technicians there are now 11 UA marine scientists permanently based out of DISL. Cumulative funding for both lab groups exceed $1.7M

10

with active awards from the National Science Foundation, Alabama Center of Excellence, National Geographic, and Gulf of Mexico Ocean Observing System.

Ongoing research in both the Hoadley and Titus labs is both national and international in scope. Dr. Hoadley’s research group focuses on coral reef ecology, algal physiology, and climate change.

Field research in the Hoadley lab takes place in far flung locals such as Fiji and Palau, as well as locally in the Gulf of Mexico. Current projects include the development of a novel underwater fluorometer to measure the physiological properties of algae that live symbiotically with corals, establishing projects on harmful algal blooms in the new DISL multistressor experimental wetlab, enhancing coral restoration in Fiji, and developing imaging flow cytobots to continuously monitor algal blooms in the Gulf. Dr Hoadley has also developed a series of new courses offered at UA and at DISL, including Molecular Ecology, Climate Change, and Coral Reef Ecology.

Research in the Titus Lab meanwhile uses genomics, systematics, field research, and phylogenetics to understand how tropical marine symbiosis generates and maintains biodiversity. Field research in the Titus Lab has taken place in the Red Sea, Maldives, Australia, French Polynesia, and throughout the Caribbean. Ongoing projects are centered around the evolution, systematics, and comparative genomics of the clownfish-hosting sea anemones, as well as the behavioral ecology, microbiome, and trophic ecology of the clownfish-sea anemone symbiosis broadly. Dr. Titus also leads and develops research on cleaning symbioses in the Caribbean between cleaner shrimps and reef fishes. Course offerings at UA and DISL from Dr. Titus include Marine Biogeography and Evolution, and Marine Biology.

The renewed commitment by UA to the DISL comes at an opportune time as the Department of Biological Sciences has recently made Marine Biology a standalone major in the department and will provide more opportunities for UA undergraduates to interact with UA faculty during their time at the coast each summer. In addition to the UA faculty permanently based out of DISL, main-campus UA faculty and graduate students also regularly leverage DISL including the Kocot, Olson and Mortazavi Labs from Biological Sciences, as well as Dr. Rebecca Totten’s Lab from Geology. ■ Left: Hoadley Lab members Jicayla Johnson-Rosmond (left) and Sophie Wong (right) sample phytoplankton communities in the Mississippi Sound for oyster clearance rate studies near Bayou Le Batre, Alabama. Right: Titus Lab members in Coral Bay, Western Australia, June 2023.

Left to Right: Dr. Aurelien De Jode, Miranda Gibson, Dr. Catheline Froehlich, Dr. Ben Titus, & Tommaso Chiodo.

Our faculty is an integrated group of scientists covering a broad spectrum of biology, but their interests, in many cases, go beyond their fields of study. Professor Juan M. Lopez-Bautista is one of these individuals. Not only is he a world renown Phycologist, Juan is also an accomplished artist who has earned his MFA from The University of Alabama.

His artwork has been showcased in several exhibits and has gained recognition for his paintings and mixed media work.

Dr. Lopez-Bautista has long been interested in the landscape as a source of imagery. His artistic research on his Mexican and American identities and immigration issues has been a leading concept of his artistic work. As such, he has developed an appreciation and respect for the landscape, especially between the Mexico and U.S.A. boundaries. In talking with Juan, he expressed, “My search for visual imagery has opened my eyes to the beauty of this violent and sometimes inhospitable landscape.

The same landscape embraces deserts, dunes, rivers, and remnants of the transient human presence. My current project, “Earth’s Open Wounds,” considers the devastating outcomes we inflict on the land. Even in these unforgiven and damaged landscapes, I attempt to discover nature’s resilience and beauty.”

For the last few years, his artistic production has been influenced in response to the social maelstrom that our country is facing. In particular, the political targeting of immigrant minorities, mostly undocumented Mexican immigrants, has created a sense of personal fear and insecurity. As an immigrant and hyphenated citizen (Mexican-American), he was not unfamiliar with these insecurities. However, he began exploring his identity to understand his ancestry and artistic responses to today’s social challenges. As he discovers his family’s migratory routes, from a father born in the U.S.A. and a maternal family from Mexico, these elements provide him with clues to examine his layered identity.

“My investigation of similarities among immigrant artists is helping me to understand my artmaking process. It also allows me to recognize the meanings behind my choices of imagery and visual vocabulary. I approach the landscape between the United States and Mexico as a human ecosystem.

I am exploring this scenery as a journey experienced through the immigrant’s eyes—their narratives are stories of friendship, persecution, aspirations, family ties, and trust.”

In terms of processes, He uses acrylic washes, inks, and acrylic transfers on synthetic paper and panels. “In my mixed media works, the painting layers suggest the threads of our society’s fabric and are metaphors for the strengths and gaps of the many levels of our American culture”. Meet the works of Dr. Juan M. Lopez-Bautista. ■

Earth’s Open Wounds: Fire in the Landscape, ceramics and glazed gold on panel, 12x12 in

Footprints in the Sand, glazed ceramics, ca. 10 x 6 in

Earth’s Open Wounds, Glazed ceramics and mixed media, ca. 15 x 10 in

The Wall: The Journey, glazed ceramics, and mixed media, ca. 12 x 8 in

Bush Fire, acrylic rayons, and mixed media on synthetic paper, 13x19 in, 2022

Migrant Trail/Sendero the Migrantes, acrylic, gouache and mixed media on synthetic paper, 10x16 in

Earth’s Open Wounds, acrylic, and mixed media on synthetic paper, 13x17 in, 2022

Fire Water, acrylic, crayons, and mixed media on paper, 13x19 in, 2022

11

DEPARTMENTAL FUNDING Over the last year, several Biological Sciences’ faculty have secured prestigious awards from a variety of funding agencies and industry partners to study wide-ranging biological phenomena, and others have received awards in recognition of their work. Some of these are highlighted here.

Drs. Benstead, Kocot, Shogren, Friel and Huryn were awarded NSF for their research titled “Collaborative research: NSFDEB-NERC: Warming’s silver lining? Thermal compensation at multiple levels of organization may promote stream ecosystem stability in response to drought.”

Drs. Jon Benstead, Kevin Kocot, Arial Shogren, John Friel, and Alex Huryn were awarded $990,203 From NSF for their project “Collaborative Research: NSFDEBNERC: Warming’s silver lining? Thermal compensation at multiple levels of organization may promote stream ecosystem stability in response to drought”. This collaborative NSF-DEB-NERC project (with Wyatt Cross at Montana State) will combine laboratory measurements (University of Iceland), stream mesocosm manipulations of temperature and drought (University of Birmingham, U.K.), and whole-reach drought manipulations (Hengill geothermal catchment, Iceland) to test the overarching hypothesis that long-term warming enhances stream ecosystem stability (both resistance and resilience) in response to drought events.

Drs. Ackermans and Earley awarded funding from three sources to convey a Symposium on traumantic brain ingguries at the international congress of vertebrate morphology.

Drs. Nicole Ackermans and Ryan Earley received funding from three sources, NSF, The Company of Biologist, and The Anatomical Records for their lab to convey a Symposium on Traumatic Brain Injuries at the International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (ICVM). This symposium, in

12

July 2023 brought together a majority of earlycareer scientists to present their newest findings related to brain damage in non-model animal species for the first time. The main goal was to set the foundation for this emerging field, as most research is currently focused on the medical applications of modeling TBI in model species, without considering the evolutionary implications of neurodegeneration found in wild animals performing natural behaviors.

M. Worth Pugh and Phillip M. Harris were awarded a $78,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The grant centers on natural history collections as invaluable resources serving as the foundation for taxonomy, evolutionary systematics, and ecological research. The Southeastern United States is a global biodiversity hotspot for a variety of organisms (flowering plants, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, arthropods, and molluscs). The University of Alabama Freshwater Decapod (UADC) and Herpetological (UAHC) Collections have served as critical resources for biologists conducting research in this region. Holdings include many significant and irreplaceable specimens such as rare or imperiled species dating back to the early 1900s. Like many natural history collections, UADC and UAHC need significant curatorial efforts to ensure all specimens are stored in appropriate containers, and properly labeled, and that all associated collection data are archived electronically, and quality checked. In undertaking this project, we will systematically inspect every specimen in the collection to make certain all are properly curated physically and in our digital database.

Additionally, we will acquire and integrate a collection of crayfish from the Geological Survey of Alabama into the UADC which will increase holdings by 150% making it one of the largest collections of Alabama crayfish. Finally, we will upload all UADC and UAHC collection data to online data repositories making this information publicly accessible. Our project will safeguard >25,000 scientific specimens and, more importantly, make these invaluable

collections visible and available for use to countless researchers, educators, and natural history enthusiasts.

Dr. Caldwell was awarded a new grant from NIH R03 titled, “Functional analysis of KCNK12 in dopaminergic neuroprotection”.

KCNK12 is an understudied ion channel on the Illuminating the Druggable Genome list that we have identified as neuroprotective in an animal model of neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson’s disease. This movement disorder affects over 1 million Americans, yet therapies have largely eluded medical science.

The purpose of this proposal is to functionally evaluate mechanisms associated with the neuroprotective role of KCNK12 using genetics and a whole animal model system.

Dr. Heinrich and colleagues were awarded a $2.9M grant from NSF to enhance undergraduate education by training inclusive teaching practices.

Dr. Kaleb Heinrich and colleagues were recently awarded a 5-year, $2.9M grant from the National Science Foundation. The objective of the project is to enhance undergraduate education by training the next generation of faculty, biology TAs, in inclusive teaching practices. Since these introductory courses often have large enrollment and permit limited individualized contact with instructors, Dr. Heinrich and team will focus their efforts on providing professional development opportunities for the teaching assistants that are responsible for a large portion of undergraduate instruction. The rationale being that the smaller class size provides expanded opportunities for 1-on-1 interactions with students, and therefore, offers the highest potential for farreaching impacts on undergraduate education and biology retention.

The project will be implemented over a series of workshops distributed across the United States. The first workshop will serve the southeast and take place in Atlanta, Georgia during the summer of 2023. Participating institutions are diverse, reflecting the

undergraduate student bases they serve, including research, teaching, and minorityserving institutions. The goal is to provide tailored implementation plans that reflect institution-specific goals. Administrators, faculty, and staff will enhance or create TA teaching professional development using evidence-based teaching practices that promote inclusion. Dr. Heinrich and colleagues hope that the benefits will extend beyond the participating institutions and ultimately shift the culture of STEM education nation-wide.

In addition to The University of Alabama’s Kaleb Heinrich, the full team includes Erin Shortlidge at Portland State University, Stephanie Gutzler at Georgia State University, Star Lee the University of California, Irvine, Adam Chouinard at Oregon State University, Mitra Asgari at the University of Missouri, and Deborah Lichti at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Kocot receive NSF grant to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Peracarida.

Dr. Kevin Kocot has a new grant from the National Science Foundation focused on reconstructing the evolutionary history of Peracarida, a group of crustaceans that includes isopods (e.g., rolly pollies), amphipods, and diverse other ecologically important marine shrimp-like animals that inhabit nearly every habitat on earth and are ecologically important as food to many other groups of animals ranging from other invertebrates to whales. The central goal of this project is to provide a robust phylogenetic framework for Peracarida based on broad taxon sampling. The project will use a phylogenomic approach to sequence genomic data from > 2,500 species broadly spanning the group. This work is expected to catalyze research across Peracarida by providing a phylogenetic framework and a comprehensive set of phylogenomic tools specialized for the group. was awarded a new NSF-DEB grant titled, “ Collaborative Research: PurSUiT: A Backbone for the Peracarida”. The grant is focused on reconstructing the evolutionary history of Peracarida, a group of crustaceans that includes isopods (e.g., rolly pollies), amphipods, and diverse other ecologically important marine shrimp-like animals that inhabit nearly every habitat on earth and are ecologically important as food to many other groups of animals ranging from other invertebrates to whales. The central goal of this project is to provide a robust

phylogenetic framework for Peracarida based on broad taxon sampling. The project will use a phylogenomic approach to sequence genomic data from > 2,500 species broadly spanning the group. This work is expected to catalyze research across Peracarida by providing a phylogenetic framework and a comprehensive set of phylogenomic tools specialized for the group.

investigate aging and immunity. Her lab uses the fruit fly as a host in experiments and uses the Flock House Virus, a small insect virus, as a pathogen in experiments.

The awarded R15 grant will fund the Chtarbanova lab for a period of 3 years (20222025). Funds will also provide support for hiring 3 new paid undergraduate positions and 2 graduate research assistantships for 3 years.

All research funded by this project will take place at UA.

RaMP: Woods to Water (W2W) for Training the Next Generation of Ecologists and Natural Resource Managers.

Dr. Chtarbanova awarded a R15 grant from NIH to continue her research into the interactions of aging and immunity.

In November of 2022, Dr. Stanislava Chtarbanova, an assistant professor at The University of Alabama, was awarded a R15 grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue her research into the interactions of aging and immunity. As the world has witnessed with the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the novel coronavirus particularly deadly to elderly patients, understanding how aging effects the immune system is of upmost concern.

Dr. Chtarbanova received her BS, MS, and PhD at the University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France. She then received a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin.

Following her postdoctoral work, she arrived at The University of Alabama.

The Chtarbanova lab here at UA is, broadly, interested in how aging impacts the innate immune system, the body’s first line of defense against pathogenic exposure, and consequently, pathogen susceptibility. More specifically, her lab examines how viruses interact with their aging hosts and what factors are important in combating infections in older organisms. Since starting her undergraduate career at the University of Strasbourg and continuing to the present here at UA, Dr. Chtarbanova has used the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) as an experimental model to

Drs. Christina Staudhammer, Arial Shogren, Carla Atkinson, Gregory Starr, and Kaleb Heinrich were awarded a $3,000,000 NSF-RaMP training grant. The project is founded in sustaining biological diversity and ecosystem services require that future generations learn to understand and maintain connectivity between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Maintaining ecological connectivity promotes ecosystem resilience in a changing climate, which is particularly important in the Southeastern United States (SEUS) —one of the most ecologically and biologically diverse regions of the US. Experience-based learning can help early career scientists understand critical linkages between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

However, opportunities for experience-based learning in the SEUS are frequently limited by a lack of access to public lands and insufficient field and classroom training opportunities.

The lack of hands-on educational experiences disproportionately impacts students from historically underrepresented groups in ecology and natural resources and reduces the overall diversity of the workforce. The Woods to Water (W2W) program provides a mission-driven, hands-on approach that focuses young people’s attention on global climate change to help develop a generation that can find solutions.

By providing training in standardized methods and data science, W2W will add 30 fieldtrained ecologists to the workforce, increasing the diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in ecological disciplines.

To achieve this goal, W2W will provide training opportunities with an immersive cohort- and field-based program in terrestrial and aquatic settings. W2W leverages training

13

with NSF’s National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and the Jones Center at Ichauway (JCI; a non-profit research station) to train post baccalaureates in key field techniques that link water, carbon, and nutrient fluxes among ecosystems —a key signature of ecological connectivity. W2W RaMP mentees will receive training in two SEUS NEON Domains: the Ozarks complex, with three pairs of terrestrial and aquatic NEON field sites, including the northwesternmost range of the threatened longleaf pine ecosystem; and the Southeast, with two sites in JCI’s expansive longleaf pine ecosystem. W2W participants will gain immersive experience through training modules and handson experience with both NEON and JCI. Participants will interact with scientists, technicians, and researchers working in and around these sites. The program will dovetail classroom, field, laboratory, and independent research approaches to provide comprehensive ecological field experiences, and participants will gain knowledge, skills, and self-confidence in field research. W2W cohorts will have opportunities to present and publish their research and obtain professional credentials as certified ecologists. For participants, this program will facilitate transition into the ecological workforce. For the discipline of ecology, the program will diversify the ecological sciences, and support the need to expand our understanding of environmental systems in the face of a changing climate.

Dr. Higgins received NIH funding for $1.8M through the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) through NIGMS. The title is “Investigating biosynthetic enzymes to enhance natural product discovery”.

The foundation of the project centers on the fact that Natural products (NPs) have diverse complex structures and play a vital role in drug discovery and development. Although the rate of discovery of natural products has

14

increased significantly, traditional bioactivityguided discovery methods frequently lead to the re-discovery of known compounds.

Therefore, genetic information-driven isolation is becoming a powerful tool for uncovering novel NPs. Genome mining efforts that target genes responsible for the biosynthesis of core structures of major NP classes, have identified tens of thousands of new biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) families predicted to produce novel compounds. While this method has been very successful in predicting compounds from these major classes, it is limited to those scaffolds and cannot identify other specific features of NP structures. Furthermore, these methods will overlook “hidden” BGCs that do not contain traditional core biosynthetic machinery, leaving a major gap in NP discovery.

The first direction of this proposal aims to use specialized genome mining strategies that target NP glycosyltransferases to identify uncharacterized BGCs that produce bioactive glycosylated NPs with distinct core structures.

Consequently, identified compounds will be directly linked to their BGC and likely have biosynthetic pathways that consist of unique enzymes and biochemical reactions.

The second direction of this proposal is to interrogate the activities and mechanisms of new biosynthetic enzymes. These will include enzymes discovered in direction one, along with enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of the aminocyclitol found in hygromycin A, which contains a rare modification essential for bioavailability. Subsequent re-integration of newly characterized biosynthetic enzymes into standard or specialized genome mining methods will assist in annotating and identifying additional BGCs to improve NP discovery. In addition, these enzymes will add to the growing toolbox of biocatalytic reactions exploited for unnatural small molecule biosynthesis. Ultimately, this research program will significantly advance NP and enzymology research to boost drug discovery and development for the benefit of human health. ■

CELEBRATING SCHOLARSHIP Outstanding graduate and undergraduate students are recognized each spring for their achievements and awarded much-appreciated scholarships. Thank you to the donors who have made these scholarships possible!

GRADUATE AWARDS

UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS

Joab Langston Thomas Scholarship Jacob Dybiec

Michael L. McDaniel Memorial Scholarship Molly Sullivan, Macy Collins, Yonathan Janka

Ralph L. Chermock Prize Wesley J. Neely, Meghan Yap-Chiongco, Chandler Olson, KeltonVerble, Sam Heraghty, Irene Sanchez Gonzalez

Henry Walker Memorial Scholarship Patrick Moore, Brooke Bailey, Ellie Riccardo, Madeline Dissinger, Caroline Goodman

Isabella H. Graham Prize Wesley J. Neely

James D. and Donjette Yarbrough Scholarship Hannah Berry, Francis Hillard, Alexis Rickenbacher

Bishop-Stackman Marine Science Endowed Scholarship Taylor C. Ledford

Septima Cecilia Smith Award (Biology) Karen Fetsch, Alison Levine

William and Ilouise Hill Research Award for Excellence in Teaching Spring Semester: Stella Wilson, Samantha Siomko, Shannon Buttimer, Matthew Shockey Summer Semester: Shannon Russell, Janique Miller Fall Semester: Nickellaus Roberts, Kevin Shaw, Emery Davis, Sontosh Deb

Septima Cecilia Smith Award (Marine Science) Elizabeth Favor

William and Ilouise Hill Research Award in Ecology and/or Evolution Emma Torija, David Yannick, Jamie Bucholz Carolyn Lawless and Janice Elizabeth Innes Research Award in Marine Sciences Taylor Ledford, Nickellaus Roberts

Septima Cecilia Smith Award (Microbiology) Hayley Bounds, Quinn Cunneely Grantland and Louise Rice Scholarship (Microbiology) Elise Warren, Elizabeth McCabe, Emma Lieberman, Henry Mauser, Zoe Davidson, Jacob Wood, Lena Seyfarth Wallace E. Holznagel Jr. Award in Biology Nathanael Rohlwing, Abigail Yarbrough, Tyler Hadeen, Fae Oldham Jane and Jim Rasco Award in Biology Karson Lloyd Tanglewood Arboretum Research Award Ava McKallip

MAKE A GIFT

The generous support and continued involvement of our alumni and friends allow us to conduct more, transformative research, enhance the education and experiences of our students, and actively serve the local, state, national, and international biological sciences community.

Visit our website (https://bsc.ua.edu/make-a-gift/) or scan the QR code to support scholarships and supplemental support for outstanding students and more.

15

Department of Biological Sciences

16